By Bill Tumas:
We already showed you how to replace the commonly sagging map pockets found in Fox Body Mustangs. One other part that sees a lot of wear is going to be your armrest pads. Particularly on a convertible like ours, they tend to fade, and over time they also tend to warp, making for a really poor-looking door panel. So today we're going to show you how to install a set using our 1990 Mustang convertible. For this installation you'll need a small pick, a 3/8 ratchet, a 3/8 socket, short extension, and a Phillips head screwdriver.

You can see our original armrest is warped in the middle here. It's also badly faded and doesn't match our door panel any longer. The first step in removing it is to pull these two plastic plugs off. Use a small pick to just go around the edge here, underneath it, and pop them out. We'll now remove the two bolts behind those covers. Now we're going to remove the two Phillips head screws, one on the back, then one on the front. Now we're going to lift it upward. We're going to pull out to release the clips.

Once we're have the armrest off the door we can remove these four screws that hold the pad to the armrest. And we're going to remove our original armrest. You want to make sure you leave this original piece of trim in place; you're going to need it for your new armrest. There's alignment pins here. We're going to match them to the holes in the armrest pad. Press it down and turn it over and screw it back in. Once we have the pads screwed to the armrest, we're going to reinstall the armrest. And our installation's complete.

That's a huge improvement over our faded and warped original pad. Installation should take you no more than about 15 to 20 minutes. You'll be back on the road in no time.